Traffic technology is the study of movement of vehicles on the roads. Analytical techniques may manage and track traffic information and derive travel times, guide driving behavior and optimize road infrastructure for cities.
Traffic Message Channel (TMC) and other traffic services deliver traffic information to customers. Traffic incidents and traffic flow are reported through broadcasts. Traffic delays may be caused by one or more of congestion, construction, accidents, special events (e.g., concerts, sporting events, festivals), weather conditions (e.g., rain, snow, tornado), and so on.
In some areas, broadcast messages contain reports of traffic and road condition information. These systems broadcast the traffic data over traffic message channels on a continuous, periodic, or frequently occurring basis. Traffic message receivers decode the data and provide user friendly reports of traffic and road conditions.
In addition, traffic information may be overlaid on maps and encoding schemes that illustrate different traffic levels on the map. However, TMC and other traffic services broadcast data that does not directly overlay with the path location of the maps.